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For once I felt good on the morning after an election. Even if Colorado voters are in a surly mood, unwilling to raise taxes for any purpose, the Salida Regional Library District got a property tax increase for an expanded building, longer hours and a bigger collection.
Not only did it pass, but it won by a healthy 65-35 ratio. Meanwhile, the proposal to expand our municipal golf course from nine to 18 holes went down.
It makes me feel better to live in a town that places a higher priority on reading than golfing, but the election was more complicated than that.
The golf-course advocates could have written a textbook
on how not to get public support,
and they weren't
even asking for tax money.
The plan was for the city to give some land and water rights to the Colorado Division of Wildlife in exchange for a 51-acre parcel just down the hill from the current golf course. This parcel, which came with a host of restrictions to insure that it would remain open space, would become the back nine.
Some of that negotiating looked fishy. The Division of Wildlife appointed Mel Rose, superintendent of the Mt. Shavano and Mt. Ouray fish hatcheries, as the state's negotiator in dealings with the city about trading land for a bigger golf course.
Mel Rose is also a member of the Salida Golf Club. It doesn't look good to have a member of the golf club representing the state in its dealings with the city regarding expansion of the golf course.
At the same time, Tom Eve was a Chaffee County Commissioner. He also sat on the Colorado Wildlife Commission, and he was developing a subdivision with a fine view of the land that might turn into a golf course. Lots near golf courses often command higher prices.
But whenever people raised questions about such troubling appearances, they were ignored.
Further, the golf advocates never told us how much it would cost to add nine holes here. A former club pro said $450,000. A prominent local attorney predicted $700,000. Outside golf-course architects said the rule of thumb is about $100,000 a hole, or $900,000.
The golfers wanted authority to borrow up to $1.4 million, secured by the golf course real estate. The note would be repaid from golf revenues, so no taxes would be involved if all went well.
Paying for an expansion meant attracting more golfers to Salida, but they never told us how many more golfers would be required to make the payments and cover the increased operating costs. Attracting people means marketing, and they never told us what sort of marketing plan they had in mind.
Now, a marketing plan to attract a few more golfers to pay off the new back nine may not appear to be an earth-shaking issue, but it seemed important to me. My reading about tourism as an industry indicates that your public investments can determine your marketing, which determines the kind of tourists you get, which in turn determines the character of your community.
In other words, if you want a bunch of thrill-a-minute drunks who don't care where they are, promote some gambling. An airport and a convention center might mean a generic white-bread city, about as distinctive as a shopping mall.
Nobody that supported golf-course expansion seemed to
think it was necessary to think these things through and
explain matters to the public. Without a reason, other than
18 holes would be nicer,
the expansion was
defeated.
A school-bond issue was defeated last year, likely for
the same reason. The proponents were vague, with the
attitude of trust us, we know what's good for
you.
But local voters did approve a tax increase for the library this year. Hospital expansion was approved a few years back, as was a sales tax for street improvement, and, further back, a bond issue to put a roof on the municipal swimming pool.
In all cases where the proposal passed, the plans were quite specific: Here's how much it will cost you and here's what you're going to get.
So I don't think Colorado voters are reluctant to invest in public improvements. If I can extrapolate from Salida, we are quite willing to invest if we are treated with some respect -- if the people supporting the improvements do their homework and make a solid case for their cause.
Another encouraging note from Tuesday came from Park County, where a non-binding referendum revealed vast opposition to a proposed Central Colorado Regional Airport near Hartsel.
I haven't met a single person who moved to the mountains so that he could live right under the roar of jets taking off and landing.
It's too much to hope that this horror will go away forever, despite a sound thrashing at the polls. No proposal for a reservoir, highway or airport, no matter how expensive or stupid, ever dies in Colorado. They keep coming back until they get built.
And maybe I'll be able to find a book in our bigger library which will explain this Colorado secret of eternal life.
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